How to fix a slow context menu on Windows 10

The context menu on Windows 10 is a UI element that any app can add options to. Windows 10 has its options in the context menu as well so, depending on how many apps you’ve installed, the context menu can get quite busy. It can also slow down. Users may attribute it to too many apps working through the context menu but that’s not it. The menu slows down because an app in it isn’t working right. Here’s how to fix a slow context menu on Windows 10.

Fix a slow context menu

To fix a slow context menu, you need to use a free utility called ShellExView. It’s a free app, and it’s awesome. The fix will take a little time but, it will be worth it. Go ahead and download ShellExView.

Once you’ve downloaded the app, run it. The first thing to do is go to Options on the menu bar and enable the ‘Hide All Microsoft Extensions’ button. This will hide the items that Windows 10 adds to the context menu and keeps you from disabling them by accident.

What you’re left with after that is everything that’s been added by a third-party app. ShellExView displays lots of things so what you need to do next is sort the items from the context menu to the top. To do that, click the title of the Type column. All context menu items will be sorted to the top.

Now, it’s time for a little trial and error. Select an app that adds an item to the Context Menu, and click the red button at the top left under the menu bar. This will disable the item. Next, you have to restart Explorer. ShellExView has a built-in option of restarting Explorer but it’s best to use a native Windows 10 method to do it. ShellExView seems to have trouble with it.

After you restart Explorer, right-click an item and see if the context menu pops up any quicker. If not, i.e., it’s still slow, disable another app and restart Explorer. Keep doing this until the context menu is faster. Once you find which app is causing the context menu to slow down, you can enable all the others.

If it turns out that an essential app is what’s slowing the context menu down, you’re going to either have to live without it, or you’re going to have to get used to a slow context menu. There isn’t much else that can be done however, you can always check to see if you have the latest version of the app running. If not, update it and it might fix the problem. It might even help to uninstall and reinstall the app.